Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sea Otter Shakedown

Last week was the 21st annual Sea Otter Clasic show near Monterey, California, and we were there cooking in the sun along side the Team Geronimo guys.

We had a Prime proto shipped over to show it off to everyone who was interested... but didn't quite realise what good testing the bike would get.

First of all, the Team Geronimo guys had ridden Blackrock on the way down with the proto, and had sent some pretty big gaps on it, saying it felt great. Then Lear said he would love to ride it in the Pro Men DH race at Sea Otter... so I figured, why not! Seemed like a good way to test an all mountain prototype to me.

The frame was built up with a prototype fork from Manitou (the Tower 140; with 140mm of travel, tapered steerer, and stiff 20mm hex lock axle system), and a proto Sturdy front tire from Geaxwhich both seemed to work really well and were suited to the more aggressive 29er rider (just the market the Banshee Prime is aimed at!). there were also goodies from Straitline (seriously, the chainguide is amazing, you totally forget it is there it is so quiet!), Hayes and Sun Ringle.

So after I rode it around a bit, I decided that it would be great to get Lear to race it on the DH to see just how capable the bike would be. He did, and he LOVED it. He came back with a huge grin on his face, and had placed well in the Pro category of DH. Here is a pic of him on his race run...

Then... Just to seal the weekend with a bang, we let Mike Montgomery flip it... as you do! Man that guy just makes everything look so easy! Is this the first backflip on a 29er ever?

So as if the Prime hadn't had a busy enough weekend, I then took it out yesterday for a loop with the Geronimo guys with a long steady climb, and then a nice steep descent which most people probably ride on full DH rigs... it was a lot of fun! Last week was indeed Prime time!! haha

FM, the Elka is tuned for a rune... but even tho that is the case it feels pretty good on the prime. Although ramps up a touch too much in last 30% of travel... the proper tune will take care of that no problem tho.

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